JuJu Smith-Schuster believes New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick ‘respects’ his game after he left the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in favour of the AFC East franchise.
Back in March, Smith-Schuster signed a free agency deal with the Patriots after his one-year tenure with the Chiefs came to an end. The Pro Bowl receiver bet on himself with his one-year deal last season, going on to lead the Chiefs in receiving yards as the franchise won Super Bowl LVII.
Smith-Schuster will essentially be replacing Jakobi Meyers, who left the Pats to sign a three-year deal worth $33million with the Las Vegas Raiders. The contract was a similar deal to the one struck by Smith-Schuster in New England, which suggests Belichick was not willing to retain Meyers.
Meyers impressed for the Pats in 2022 with 804 receiving yards and six touchdowns - but he cost New England the win against the Raiders when he inexplicably threw the ball back to quarterback Mac Jones. Chandler Jones intercepted the pass to score a defensive touchdown with no time left on the clock.
The loss essentially ensured the Pats were to miss out on the playoffs and Belichick, who is renowned for holding a grudge when it comes to individual mistakes, clearly no longer wanted Meyers around. Instead, he signed Smith-Schuster and the receiver believes he knows Belichick ‘respects’ his game from when he faced the Pats as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“One thing I’ve learned playing against Bill is that if he ever double-teams you, you’re a key player in his eyes,” the 26-year-old said on Tuesday. “So back then when he was doing that, I looked at it like, ‘OK, he respects my game, and he respects me.’
“Being able to circle back around in Year 7 to be here, it shows that he still has respect.”
Smith-Schuster was selected by the Steelers in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft, and playing in the AFC helped him gain familiarity with Belichick. The double-team strategy the coach employed against Smith-Schuster was a common theme when Pittsburgh matched up against New England.
Ultimately, Smith-Schuster wants to win again after collecting a ring in Kansas City. He believes the Pats ‘have enough’ to compete at the top of a competitive AFC, adding: “We've got guys who can run down the field. We've got guys that can do a lot of different things.
“What's crazy about this offence that I didn't know about until I got here was that there's guys that play both ways. There's guys that can play receiver, that can play in the backfield, and seeing that you can have so many different weapons with these players, it just gives Mac these opportunities to do whatever he wants.”
